


Wine Mixed With Honey

by redluna



Series: Femslash February Bingo [1]
Category: The Borgias (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-03
Updated: 2014-02-03
Packaged: 2018-01-11 02:30:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1167567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redluna/pseuds/redluna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Giulia is the eldest child of the Pope of Rome, who might just be more clever than any of her brothers, and Lucrezia is one of the few chinks in her armor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wine Mixed With Honey

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge: Historical Pairing  
> Bingo Square: Role Reversal

Giulia is the only daughter from her parents' brood, yet she is also the eldest. There are times when her father will crook his finger under her chin and tease that she, out of all his children, could have taken their world by storm had she been born a male. Giulia never misses the way Juan's eyes will flash with distaste when he says this, however, or how even Cesare has to turn his head to hide his anger. (Poor Cesare, who receives praise enteral except from the one from which he desires it most.) 

Perhaps unlike the greater half of her sex, Giulia is content with her lot. Her older brothers fight like feral dogs with one another over the newfound treasures their father flings down from his lofty estate. There is never enough to please either of them; one must have all the other wants or none. Gioffre is still too sweet a child to care one way or another, content to play at whatever new games Giulia crafts for him. She fears the moment he becomes old enough to tempt their father's interest further for she does not want to watch his tender heart be torn to shreds.

She is still infamous, in her own way, for circumventing her familial ambition altogether. After the papal tiara had descended upon her father's head, the suitors appeared in virtual flocks, all of them far more illustrious than any she might have been matched to before. Yet Giulia astounded them all by marrying not a prince or a duke, but one of their own--Orsino Orsini, son to their father's cousin.

Juan likes to sneer at her now, never missing the chance to accuse her of lowering herself for the sake of love (which only further shows how foolish he is for she never loved Orsino). Cesare, however, takes after their father too much to not be swayed towards her side by the considerable wealth that Orsino brings through their union. He is jealous that it leaves her more free than himself, that much is obvious, but it is tempered through the knowledge that, while she is free from their family (for now), she has merely exchanged her previous shackles for a set that fit slightly looser.

The bonds of marriage can often be as restricting and chafing as those of the holy order, after all.

Perhaps that is why he brings her Lucrezia, who soon becomes more dear to Giulia than she thought anyone could. The girl is meant to be her maid, but Giulia quickly molds her into a protege of sorts instead. She is one of the many children of a minor noble family, quick to be overlooked unless she learns to play her cards right. And she has many cards to play.

There are lotions to bring out the smooth, milky quality of her skin and oils that make the curls that bound over her shoulders (Giulia has not the heart to bind them in a net) shine like true gold when the catch the light. When dressed in her new fine gowns she looks like some sort of dainty creature from beyond their world entirely; silks and velvets flowing around her while she laughs, dragging Giulia into dance after dance.

She does not miss the way her father's eyes follow Lucrezia now. He has always been able to appreciate beautiful women and there is no denying that that is just what Lucrezia is. To find Cesare's eyes following her as well, however, comes as more of a surprise.

Lucrezia never gives her any reason to suspect that she belongs to anyone other than her, however. Orsino only visits her bed when there is no other choice left. Lucrezia takes his place on all other nights, eyes shining up at her hopefully in the half glow of the candles. "Teach me another trick!" she pleads, and Giulia has never been able to deny her.

It began with kisses, meant to be mere practice for any husbands (or lovers) Lucrezia meant to take but that illusion was quickly done away with after Lucrezia bestowed upon her a kiss meant purely for pleasure once she had finished dressing her lady for the day. Needless to say it had taken far longer than usual for Giulia to leave her chambers on that day.

Lucrezia knows a great deal more than how to kiss now. There are times that Giulia thinks the girl knows her body better than she does herself. She does not doubt that her father would count such a relationship a sin, but when she imagines him blustering at her it is almost impossible not to laugh. For her father has a new woman trailing out of his bedchambers almost every other day and had a whole collection of bastard children by the time he became Pope of Rome. Of what does he know of holiness?

Or, no, that is wrong to say, or perhaps simply too cruel. For her father has at least taught her one thing, however, indirectly--that there is holiness to be found in the world, to be sure, but it is not always what the priests preach of. Divine joy is something that one must discover for themselves and awakening with Lucrezia tangled up around her, fingers already tracing the curves of her body, is all she ever wants to know of happiness.


End file.
